 at any time the berserker may choose to go berserk this isn't an instantaneous processu8e28094he must spend a little time to psych himself up it takes a full turn ten combat rounds to go berserk in that time the character is growling moaning uttering imprecations it it's impossible to be quiet when trying to go berserk he may also be fighting during that time meaning that he can start to go berserk on the round the fight begins fight for ten full rounds and then be berserk on the eleventh round of course when the berserker knows a fight is coming he can begin to go berserk even if there is no fight currently going on at the end of a full turn of preparation he can become berserk instantaneously if there there's no enemy in sight yet he can hold the berserk until combat is engaged but if no combat takes place within five more full turns he automatically reverts to normal and suffers the ordinary consequences for coming out of a berserk described below the character can come out of his berserk once the last enemy is down he must literally be down on the ground even if still alive and surrendering; the berserker will stay berserk and continue fighting so long as there are enemies still on their feet once the fight ends the berserker must come out of his berserk state for these reasons berserking is a more appropriate reaction when the characters are about to attack or be attacked by a foe they know about if the characters are instead jumped by a small party of orcs it it's usually not worth the effort to go berserk; the consequences and effort outweigh the benefits when berserk the character has phenomenal endurance and resistance to pain and some forms of magic only while berserk he gains the following benefits # he is immune no saving throw is necessary to the wizard spells   charm person     friends     hypnotism     sleep     irritation     ray of enfeeblement     scare     geas   and the clerical spells   command     charm person or mammal     enthrall     cloak of bravery   and   symbol   # he gets a 4 to save against the wizard spells   blindness     tasha tasha's uncontrollable hideous laughter     hold person     charm monster   and   confusion   and the clerical spells   hold person   and   hold animal   # the   emotion   spell has no effect on the berserker unless the caster chose the  fear  result if  fear  was chosen the berserker gets a normal saving throw; if he makes it he continues on as before but if he fails it he is prematurely snapped out of his berserk with all the normal effects of coming out of the berserk but he doesn't suffer other fear effect the   fear   spell has exactly the same effect if he saves there is no effect and if he doesn't save he he's snapped out of the berserk if he fails a saving throw against   charm monster   he simply counts the caster as one of his allies; he doesn't come out of the berserk or obey the caster caster's commands # being berserk offers no real protection from   finger of death   except that the spell effects do not take place until the character has come out of his berserk if the berserker saves he doesn't suffer the 2d8 1 damage until immediately after he snaps out of the berserk if he fails to save he doesn't die until he snaps out of the berserk # the berserker while berserk is immune to ko results from the punching and wrestling rules and takes only half damage from bare-handed attacks from these rules # while berserk the character gets 1 to attack 3 to damage and 5 hp special hindrances the berserker has hindrances as severe as all those benefits he receives # the berserker character receives a u8e280933 reaction from all npcs except that is characters from tribes which have berserkers in them as described above # when the berserker goes berserk the dm should immediately say to him tell me how many hit points you currently have from that point until the fight is done and the berserker has returned to normal the dm keeps track of his hit points the player is not told how many hp he has left nor how many points of damage he is taking with each attack after all the character can feel no pain so he cannot keep track of how close he is to death the dm simply tells him something like the orc-captain hits you with his axe a mighty blow which you barely feel it is therefore very possible for a berserker to be nickled and dimed to death and not know it until he drops dead the dm can also if he so chooses roll all saving throws for the berserker not telling the player whether they were failures or successes # while berserk the character can use no ranged weapons he kills only in hand-to-hand or melee-weapon combat # while berserk he must fight each opponent until that opponent is down once an opponent is felled the berserker must move to the nearest enemy and attack him he can't for instance choose to attack the enemy leader if that leader is behind seven ranks of spearmen the berserker must keep fighting until all enemies are down as described earlier # while berserk the character cannot take cover against missile fire # if while the character is berserk another character tries something he can interpret as attack for instance hits him to move him out of the way of an incoming attack the berserker must roll 1d20 vs his intelligence if he succeeds that is rolls his intelligence score or less he he's dimly aware that his friend is not attacking him if he fails rolls higher than his intelligence he now thinks his friend is an enemy and continues to think so until the fight is done and he is no longer berserk # while berserk the character is temporarily unaffected by the clerical spells   bless     cure light wounds     aid     cure serious wounds     cure critical wounds     heal     regenerate   and   regenerate wither   he will gain the benefits of those spells only after he has come out of his berserk and suffered any and all damages which occurred then # the   taunt   spell is automatically successful and will cause the berserker to abandon his current enemy and rush to attack the taunter # finally when the character comes out of his berserk bad things happen to him he loses the 5 hp he gained when he became berserk this could drop him to or below 0 hp and kill him of course he collapses in exhaustion exactly as if hit by a ray of enfeeblement no saving throw possible for one round for every round he was berserk he suffers the effects of any spells which wait until he he's returned to normal before affecting him finger of death for instance and only then can healing spells affect him source source source complete fighter fighter's handbook 